Karl Kruszelnicki

Few Australians would be unfamiliar with the multi-talented and slightly eccentric, enthusiastic champion of science, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. With degrees in Physics and Maths, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine, and Surgery, he is a media host, an author of over 30 books, and a Fellow at UTS.

Dr Karl’s Surfing Through Science is an informative, and entertaining, exploration of specific subjects within varied branches of science. With topics ranging from Coffee-Grinding the Perfect Cup, to Past show more Plagues and Coronavirus, from Black Holes Have No Size, to The Amazing Disappearing Anus, there is truly something for everyone.

Dr Karl’s enthusiasm for the subjects comes across, as does his ‘dad’ sense of humour, but without compromising the information. The text is well presented, providing concise explanation and details, with the minimum use of jargon. Sub headings help with organisation, and inset columns offer additional but still relevant information. The accompanying images and illustrations are clear and relevant. I found the large format paperback easy to handle, and the pages are a pleasing thickness.

Not content to wow his readers with science fact, Dr Karl has introduced science fiction into his latest book. By downloading an app and hovering over the title pages of each topic with a smartphone or tablet, a ‘hologram’ of Dr Karl appears and talks about some of the chapter’s key ideas. It’s a fun and unique element of the book that will especially appeal to primary school aged children. Question marks also appear on the screen, and tapping them leads to additional relevant information online, which will benefit teens or adults interested in further detail (I’ve included a demonstration video below). This clever feature also allows Dr Karl to provides updates on the information in the book, if necessary. The only downside, as such, to the augmented reality feature is that it does require an internet connection and an up-to-date Apple or Android device (with minimum OS requirements) to access these interactive elements, though the book is perfectly useful and entertaining without it.

Dr Karl’s Surfing Through Science would be a stellar gift for a budding scientist, or really anyone with a curious mind who might wonder are Murder Hornets - Lethal But Tasty? show less

Dr Karl is a master when it comes to explaining science in a fun and interesting way that can make anyone understand what’s going on. I love receiving his books for Christmas because they’re easy to pick up, but when you’re interrupted to do something mundane like wash the dishes, it’s easy to pick up where you left off. In this book, Dr Karl tackles many scientific subjects, including space and ticks causing meat allergy. (The ticks and meat allergy link was recently covered by a show more television programme in Australia – whether they were inspired by Dr Karl I can’t say).

But it’s not just planets and space travel that Dr Karl looks at. There are practical and fun things too – does the five second rule when you drop food exist? (I always thought it was 10 seconds, so I’ve been misled). What went on at Bletchley Park during World War II and why is Apple linked to Alan Turing? Why does Amazon sell books for millions of dollars? What is the truth about the paleo diet? Does swearing help with pain relief?

What I love about Dr Karl’s books is that they encourage discussion and to conduct your own scientific experiments. I did look at the most expensive books on Amazon. I did mention to my colleagues over coffee about how much you swear affects the pain relief felt when swearing (I still haven’t found any takers to repeat that experiment). In true geek fashion, I did look up some original articles about the abscopal effect in various cancers. (I would have been happy with a whole book about this, but I understand that would be a limited market – and who knows what price the Amazon bots would set it at!) While the space stuff didn’t interest me as much as the medicine and the plain quirky, I felt that I benefitted from understanding that bit more.

Dr Karl’s writing is easily approachable and would fascinate those interested in science- not just adults, but teenagers as well. No wonder he’s one of Australia’s living treasures!

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Dr Karl (as he is affectionately known in Australia, as one of our living treasures) is one of those blokes who know everything, are passionate about their subject and can actually teach it to the lay person. I’ve picked up a couple of his books at the library and am always amazed on just how exciting he makes science seem. (Which it is. But I’m a geek amongst geek. I couldn’t even get my colleagues interested in some of the topics Dr Karl discusses. I bet if he had spoken to them, show more they would all be Googling it and buying him a beer. But I digress).

50 Shades of Grey Matter shouldn’t be disregarded as yet another blatant cash-in on the more notorious Fifty Shades (although Dr Karl does sex it up, tongue in cheek in his acknowledgements). This contains some hard-core research (i.e. highly respected journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine) on a number of interesting topics from children, marshmallows and delayed gratification to how to effectively treat hiccups. Popeye and his spinach eating also rate a chapter. The topics range from biology (both human and animal), medicine, physics, chemistry, computing and astronomy – but they’re written in such a fresh and interesting way that it’s hard not to be excited by your new found knowledge. The text is supported by some drawings – not of the scientific type, more just in case you want to skip to the page with Popeye.

This book was a perfect one to sit down with post-Christmas and dip and out of. You can read one chapter at a time (they’re only about five to seven pages) or read continuously, then sprout all your new knowledge at the dinner table. Both adults and teenagers would enjoy this book, particularly if they enjoying reading about the hows and whys of the world.

(Just in case you’re wondering – there is absolutely no mention of Christian Grey in this book. There could be mention of binding materials though. It’s interesting to see that some people are mistaking this book for one of the risqué ‘grey’ books!)

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Not feeling great with an allergy to the mould in this book so it was a quick read… and very interesting. Karl is well-known in Australia as a one-man myth-buster and he sets out to debunk all sorts of commonly held misconceptions in this popular science collection of articles.

I enjoyed this because, while it is obvious that Karl understands far more about the way the world works than I do, he didn’t make me feel like I was a second-class citizen for it. He patiently explains why things show more are the way they are and doesn’t go into any detail that you don’t need. On top of that, he has a Bryson-esque style about him that had me laughing out loud in a few places.

So, what did I learn? Well, Velcro, despite being popularised by its use by NASA was actually invented by a Swiss dog walker, you can drink alcohol while taking antibiotics, that more US history is bunk than I thought (notably Irving’s embellishment of Columbus), grapefruit juice can be life-threatening if imbibed while taking certain medications and that sports drinks are, for me at least, a waste of money. All useful stuff.

What didn’t I learn? Well, I already knew that cars don’t explode Hollywood-style on impact, that US history is often bunk, that red hair is a genetic mutation, that there is gravity in space and that I’m balding for reasons that are still pretty much unknown (which at least makes me feel marginally better about it.)

This book would make an very good addition to your bathroom and would enhance the dying practice of reading books on long-haul flights. show less